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Comment by Mountain_Skies | Hacker News Reader

Checks are almost a specialty item now. I was shocked at how much they cost even from the discount mail order printers. If I keep the same bank, this order, the smallest they produce, likely will last the rest of my life. Guess they have to cover their costs on what is no longer a high volume business.

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I'm reminded of their existence when visiting Canada / US. Their continued existence is baffling.

My (soon to be) former apartment complex only accepted checks or money orders for rent payments

My last apartment complex was the same way. They looked at allowing people to pay electronically; but, that would mean passing on the credit card charge to residents. The first apartment complex I lived in, which allowed you to pay by credit card, charged 3.3% to do so.

If I save $40 by writing a check, I'll write a check.

Housekeepers and babysitters like to be paid in cash. Sometimes it's more than we have on hand, so we write a check.

I've pleaded with my housekeeper to accept CashApp or Venmo, but he refuses. He wants a check. He's, perhaps rightfully, distrusting of new payment tech.

Babysitters are 50/50 on Venmo.

Isn't venmo just ACH underneath?

Only when you take it out of their ecosystem. Otherwise you can send the balance to other Venmo users.

There's also a debit card linked to the balance, like Square's Cash App and card. So you can spend the balance that way, too (assuming the merchant takes cards).

I was always under the impression that it was against the TOS to use Venmo for business transactions.

Looks like I was right unless there's some sort of separate business account

https://help.venmo.com/hc/en-us/articles/217532097-Can-I-use...

>Venmo may NOT otherwise be used to receive business, commercial or merchant transactions, meaning you CANNOT use Venmo to accept payment from (or send payment to) another user for a good or service.

Then about 99% of the transactions on their platform are in violation of their own ToS. If someone pays for a joint meal, then you venmo your half, you're paying for a good or service.

I'm guessing they have that in there to try and get around some KYC or due diligence requirements? Or is this another Paypal-style tactic so they can shutdown people's accounts for ToS violations and confiscate their monies? Yes, that's probably it.

>Checks are almost a specialty item now. I was shocked at how much they cost even from the discount mail order printers.

Really? I just got a box online from Walmart for about $12. That's a few year supply for me. (I usually write several a month for my housekeeper, money I owe my neighbor, random service people, etc.) My bank also writes some for me but I'm not counting those.

I certainly don't write as many checks as I used to but they're not really rare. [This is US.]

How are you buying cheques in a shop? Here in the UK I've only ever seen cheques handed out by banks preprinted with your account details on them. Why would anybody accept a cheque with a handwritten source account?

You just give the printer your account details. A check is just a piece of paper at the end of the day. Of course, many people will only accept an official looking check but you could get one printed with any arbitrary info you cared to.

Yeah, and here upon receiving the cheques you have to register them with the bank before using them.

I've hand written them in the past. Also branches used to have partial preprinted cheques available on which one could complete the details.

However recently I've seen Bank T&Cs require that one use the banks own preprinted cheques, yet not provide them - essentially removing the cheque facility.

In US you or anybody can print checks, provided they gave the account number, routing number. Name, address, Bank are optional.

>Bank are optional

Well, the routing number tells you the bank so it's really on the check even if the name isn't.

You're right about name and address being optional--although historically people might have refused to accept checks that didn't have this information printed on them.

You can print checks in your house if you wanted, all you need is a check printer

https://www.amazon.com/MTI-MICR-Check-Printing-Package/dp/B0...

Actually tried buying checks from Wal-Mart. They rejected my order claiming my bank was in Italy and they didn't do international checks. I double checked the routing number and it was correct. Whoever Wal-Mart contracted with the do check printing, they don't have a very good system in place of at least not on that day.

Ah yes the darn cheque "printing business" is another side of this anachronism.

Whenever I needed cheques (some 10 years ago on my "developing country" bank) I would just go to an ATM and it would print me cheques on the spot, just pick how many you want. No extra fees. (Of course they became obsolete with time and direct transfers between accounts, also for a very cheap fee)

You can order checks from third-parties, not just your bank. You might also walk into a location and ask if they can print you courtesy checks (a sheet of 3-4 checks).

Look harder. I just purchased 1,000 for $7.

At USAA the basic checks are free. I average 1.3 checks per month. One box will last 9 years.

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